Ripon continued its efforts of becoming more bike and pedestrian friendly.
Members of the Ripon City Council recently awarded contractor T & S West the base bid with the state-funded Safe Routes to School Project.
At the July 10 meeting, they gave staff the go-ahead to submit applications for the California Transportation Commission’s Active Transportation Program for the development of new bikeways and walkways, which also supports the Safe Routes to School projects.
Safe Route to School, in this case, involves area of Park View Elementary School near the Mistlin Sports Park.
T & S West, at about $449,000, came in as the low bid over that of Tennyson Electric, Inc. ($492,000) and St. Francis Electric, LLC ($518,000).
The base bid consisted of pedestrian crossing beacons on Calhoun Avenue at Santos and Colony roads, crosswalk striping, paver striping, handicap ramps, signage and electronic speed radar signs around the Ripon Unified kindergarten- through- eighth- grade campus.
Engineering Supervisor James Pease provided the bid alternatives in his council report.
The first bid alternative includes crosswalk striping, electronic flashing beacon signs along with modifications to the existing handicap ramps at the intersection of Shasta and Acacia avenues to provide a safe crossing on Shasta Avenue near the Boesch-Kingery Park.
The second alternative bid consists of electronic flashing beacon signs on Fulton Avenue across the north leg of the Santos Avenue roundabout with two additional speed radar signs on Calhoun.
Vice Mayor Leo Zuber inquired why the base-bid alternatives were not part of the process.
“There’s potential for a change order once construction starts,” Pease said in response. “There may be a component in one of the alternatives for engineering request from the contractor.”
In particular, the flashing crossing signs on Fulton Avenue designed to give access to the new Vineyards subdivision and Park View.
Safe Routes to School programs are aimed towards making it safer for students to walk and bike while encouraging them to do without barriers along the way.
“The goal is to reverse the decline in children walking and bicycling to schools, increase kids’ safety and reverse the alarming nationwide trend toward childhood obesity and inactivity,” according to www.saferoutespartnership.org.
